Republic of China
The Republic of China (ROC) was a sovereign state in mainland China between 1912 and 1949, prior to the nationalist government's relocation to the island of Taiwan. It was established in January 1912 after the , which overthrew the , the last . The Republic's first president, , served only briefly before handing over the position to , the leader of the . Sun's party, the (KMT), then led by , won the held in December 1912. However, Song was assassinated on Yuan's orders shortly after; and the Beiyang Army, led by Yuan, maintained full control of the . Between late 1915 and early 1916, Yuan proclaimed himself before abdicating not long after due to . After Yuan's death in 1916, the authority of the Beiyang government was further weakened by a brief . Cliques in the Beiyang Army claimed individual autonomy and clashed with each other during the ensuing . In 1921, the KMT established a in , supported by the fledgling (CPC). The economy of northern China, overtaxed to support warlord adventurism, collapsed between 1927 and 1928. General , who became the after Sun's death, started the in 1926 to overthrow the Beiyang government, which was accomplished in 1928. In April 1927, Chiang established a in , and . The latter event forced the CPC into armed rebellion, marking the beginning of the . China experienced but suffered conflicts between the Nationalist government in Nanking, the CPC, remaining warlords, and the . Nation-building efforts yielded to fight the , when the launched an offensive against China in 1937 which turned into a full-scale invasion. In 1946, after the at the end of in 1945, the Chinese Civil War between the KMT and CPC resumed, leading to the 1946 replacing the 1928 Organic Law as the Republic's fundamental law. In 1949, nearing the end of the civil war, the CPC established the People's Republic of China, overthrowing the nationalist government on the Chinese mainland, with the nationalists from Nanking to and controlling only from 1949 to the present day, and until 1950. Names The official name of the state on the mainland was the "Republic of China", but it has been known under various names throughout its existence. Shortly after the ROC's establishment in 1912, the government used the short form "China" ( ( }}}})) to refer to itself, "China" being derived from ("central" or "middle") and ("state, nation-state"), , in (when its pronunciation was something like ) it meant the walled city of the Chinese and the areas they could control from them.}} a term that developed under the in reference to its , , which states " bestowed the lands and the peoples of the central state to the ancestors" ( ).}} and the name was then applied to the area around (present-day Luoyang) during the and then to China's before being used as an occasional synonym for the state during the . "Republican China" and "Republican Era" refer to the " " (from 1912 to 1928), and " " (from 1928 to 1949). History Overview A republic was formally established on 1 January 1912 following the , which itself began with the on 10 October 1911, successfully overthrowing the and ending over two thousand years of in China. From its founding until 1949, the republic was based on mainland China. Central authority waxed and waned in response to (1915–28), a (1937–45), and a (1927–49), with central authority strongest during the (1927–37), when most of China came under the control of the , of the (KMT). In 1945, at the end of , the surrendered control of Taiwan and its to the ; and Taiwan was placed under the Republic of China's administrative control. The of in 1949, after the , left the ruling Kuomintang with control over only . With the loss of the mainland, the ROC government retreated to and the KMT declared the . Meanwhile, the took over all of mainland China and founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in . Founding In 1912, after over two thousand years of , a republic was established to replace the . The that preceded the republic had experienced instability throughout the 19th century and suffered from both internal rebellion and foreign imperialism. The ongoing instability eventually led to the in 1900, whose attacks on foreigners resulted in the invasion by the . China signed the and paid a large indemnity to the foreign powers: 450 million s of fine silver (around 333 million or 67 million at the then current exchange rates). A program of institutional reform proved too little and too late. Only the lack of an alternative regime prolonged the monarchy's existence until 1912. The Chinese Republic grew out of the against the Qing government, on 10 October 1911, which is now celebrated annually as the ROC's , also known as " ". On 29 December 1911, was elected president by the Nanjing assembly, which consisted of representatives from seventeen provinces. On 1 January 1912, he was officially inaugurated and pledged "to overthrow the despotic government led by the , consolidate the Republic of China and plan for the welfare of the people". Sun lacked the necessary military strength to defeat the Qing government by force. As a compromise, the new republic negotiated with the commander of the , promising Yuan the presidency of the republic if he were to remove the Qing emperor by force. Yuan agreed to the deal, and the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, , was forced to abdicate in 1912. led the Kuomintang Party to electoral victories by fashioning his party's program to appeal to the gentry, landowners, and merchants. Song was assassinated on March 20, 1913 at the behest of Yuan Shikai. Yuan was elected president of the ROC in 1913. He ruled by military power and ignored the republican institutions established by his predecessor, threatening to execute Senate members who disagreed with his decisions. He soon dissolved the ruling (KMT) party, banned "secret organizations" (which implicitly included the KMT), and ignored the provisional constitution. An attempt at a in 1912 ended with the assassination of the elected candidate by a man recruited by Yuan. Ultimately, Yuan declared himself in 1915. The new ruler of China tried to increase centralization by abolishing the provincial system; however, this move angered the gentry along with the provincial governors, who were usually military men. Many provinces and became states. Increasingly unpopular and deserted by his supporters, Yuan abdicated in 1916 and died of natural causes shortly thereafter. China then declined into a period of warlordism. Sun, having been forced into exile, returned to province in the south with the help of warlords in 1917 and 1922, and set up successive rival governments to the in Beijing, re-establishing the KMT in October 1919. Sun's dream was to unify China by launching an expedition against the north. However, he lacked the military support and funding to turn it into a reality. Meanwhile, the Beiyang government struggled to hold onto power, and an open and wide-ranging debate evolved regarding how China should confront the West. In 1919, a student protest against the government's weak response to the , considered unfair by Chinese intellectuals, led to the , whose demonstrations were against the danger of spreading Western influence replacing Chinese culture. It was in this intellectual climate that the influence of spread and became popular, leading to the founding of the in 1921. Nanjing decade , Chinese industry and its military were improved just prior to the war against Imperial Japan.}} After Sun's death in March 1925, became the leader of the . In 1926, Chiang led the with the intention of defeating the warlords and unifying the country. Chiang received the help of the and the . However, he soon dismissed his Soviet advisers, being convinced that they wanted to get rid of the KMT and take control. Chiang decided to , killing thousands of them. At the same time, other violent conflicts were taking place in China: in the South, where the Communists had superior numbers, Nationalist supporters were being massacred. Such events eventually led to the between the Nationalists and Communists. Chiang Kai-shek pushed the Communists into the interior and established a government, with as its capital, in 1927. By 1928, Chiang's army overthrew the and unified the entire nation, at least nominally, beginning the so-called . According to Sun Yat-sen's theory, the KMT was to rebuild China in three phases: a phase of military rule during which the KMT would take over power and reunite China by force; a phase of political tutelage; and finally a constitutional, democratic phase. In 1930, the Nationalists, having taken power militarily and reunifying China, started the second phase, promulgating a provisional constitution and beginning the period of so-called "tutelage". Criticized for instituting , the KMT claimed it was attempting to establish a modern democratic society. Among other things, it created the , the , and other agencies. In 1932, China for the first time sent a team to the . Campaigns were mounted and laws passed to promote the rights of women. The ease and speed of communication facilitated focusing on social problems, especially those of remote villages. The was one of many that took advantage of the new freedom to raise social consciousness. The Nationalist government published a draft constitution on 5 May 1936. During this time a series of wars took place in western China, including the , the , and the . Although the central government was nominally in control of the entire country during this period, large areas of China remained under the semi-autonomous rule of local warlords such as and , provincial military leaders, or warlord coalitions. Nationalist rule was strongest in the eastern regions around the capital Nanjing. The in 1930, the in 1931, and the Red Army's in 1934 led to more power for the central government, but there continued to be foot-dragging and even outright defiance, as in the of 1933–34. Historians such as Edmund Fung argue that establishing a democracy in China at that time was not possible. The nation was at war and divided between Communists and Nationalists. Corruption and lack of direction within the government prevented any significant reforms from taking place. Chiang realized the lack of real work being done within his administration and told the State Council: "Our organization becomes worse and worse... many staff members just sit at their desks and gaze into space, others read newspapers and still others sleep." Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) Few Chinese had any illusions about Japanese desires on China. Hungry for raw materials and pressed by a growing population, Japan initiated the seizure of in September 1931 and established the ex-Qing emperor as head of the of in 1932. The loss of Manchuria, and its potential for industrial development and war industries, was a blow to the Kuomintang economy. The , established at the end of World War I, was unable to act in the face of Japanese defiance. The Japanese began to push south of the into northern China and the coastal provinces. Chinese fury against Japan was predictable, but anger was also directed against Chiang and the Nanking government, which at the time was more preoccupied with anti-Communist extermination campaigns than with resisting the Japanese invaders. The importance of "internal unity before external danger" was forcefully brought home in December 1936, when , in an event now known as the , was kidnapped by and forced to ally with the Communists against the Japanese in the . Chinese resistance stiffened after 7 July 1937, when a clash occurred between Chinese and Japanese troops outside (Later ) near the . This skirmish led to open, although undeclared, warfare between China and Japan. fell after a during which Japan suffered extensive casualties in both its army and navy. The capital, , fell in December 1937, which was followed by mass murders and rapes known as the . The national capital was briefly at , then removed in an epic retreat to , the seat of government until 1945. In 1940, the Japanese set up the , with its capital in Nanking, which proclaimed itself the legitimate "Republic of China" in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek's government, although its claims were significantly hampered due to its being a controlling limited amounts of territory. The United Front between the Kuomintang and the CCP had salutary effects for the beleaguered CCP, despite Japan's steady territorial gains in northern China, the coastal regions and the rich Valley in central China. After 1940, conflicts between the Kuomintang and Communists became more frequent in the . The Communists expanded their influence wherever opportunities presented themselves through mass organizations, administrative reforms and the land- and tax-reform measures favoring the peasants and, the spread of their organizational network, while the Kuomintang attempted to neutralize the spread of Communist influence. Meanwhile, northern China was infiltrated politically by Japanese using facilities such as the . After its entry into the during World War II, the United States became increasingly involved in Chinese affairs. As an ally, it embarked in late 1941 on a program of massive military and financial aid to the hard-pressed . In January 1943, both the United States and the United Kingdom led the way in revising their with China from the past. Within a few months a new agreement was signed between the United States and the Republic of China for the stationing of American troops in China as part of the common war effort against Japan. The United States sought unsuccessfully to reconcile the rival Kuomintang and Communists, to make for a more effective anti-Japanese war effort. In December 1943, the s of the 1880s, and subsequent laws, enacted by the United States Congress to restrict Chinese immigration into the United States were repealed. The wartime policy of the United States was meant to help China become a strong ally and a stabilizing force in postwar East Asia. During the war, China was one of the Big Four and later one of the , which was a precursor to China having a permanent seat on the . In August 1945, with American help, Nationalist troops moved to take the Japanese surrender in North China. The Soviet Union—encouraged to invade Manchuria to hasten the end of the war and allowed a Soviet sphere of influence there as agreed to at the in February 1945—dismantled and removed more than half the industrial equipment left there by the Japanese. Although the Chinese had not been present at Yalta, they had been consulted and had agreed to have the Soviets enter the war, in the belief that the Soviet Union would deal only with the Kuomintang government. However, the Soviet presence in northeast China enabled the Communists to arm themselves with equipment surrendered by the withdrawing Japanese army. Post-World War II In 1945, after the end of the war, the moved back to Nanjing. The Republic of China emerged from the war nominally a great military power but actually a nation economically prostrate and on the verge of all-out civil war. The problems of rehabilitating the formerly Japanese-occupied areas and of reconstructing the nation from the ravages of a protracted war were staggering. The economy deteriorated, sapped by the military demands of foreign war and internal strife, by spiraling inflation, and by Nationalist profiteering, speculation, and hoarding. Starvation came in the wake of the war, and millions were rendered homeless by floods and unsettled conditions in many parts of the country. On 25 October 1945, following the , the administration of was handed over from Japan to the Republic of China. After the end of the war, were used to hold (Beijing) and against a possible Soviet incursion, and logistic support was given to Kuomintang forces in north and northeast China. To further this end, on 30 September 1945 the , charged with maintaining security in the areas of the and the eastern , arrived in China. In January 1946, through the mediation of the United States, a military truce between the Kuomintang and the Communists was arranged, but battles soon resumed. Public opinion of the administrative incompetence of the Nationalist government was incited by the Communists during the nationwide student protest against the mishandling of the in early 1947 and during another national protest against monetary reforms later that year. Realizing that no American efforts short of large-scale armed intervention could stop the coming war, in early 1947 the United States withdrew the , headed by Gen. . The became more widespread; battles raged not only for territories but also for the allegiance of sections of the population. The United States aided the Nationalists with massive economic loans and weapons but no combat support. (Nanking) they next moved to (Canton), then to (Chungking), (Chengtu) and (Sichang) before arriving in .}} Belatedly, the Republic of China government sought to enlist popular support through internal reforms. However, the effort was in vain, because of rampant government corruption and the accompanying political and economic chaos. By late 1948 the Kuomintang position was bleak. The demoralized and undisciplined proved to be no match for the Communists' motivated and disciplined . The Communists were well established in the north and northeast. Although the Kuomintang had an advantage in numbers of men and weapons, controlled a much larger territory and population than their adversaries, and enjoyed considerable international support, they were exhausted by the long war with Japan and in-fighting among various generals. They were also losing the propaganda war to the Communists, with a population weary of Kuomintang corruption and yearning for peace. In January 1949, Beiping was taken by the Communists without a fight, and its name changed back to Beijing. Following the capture of Nanjing on 23 April, major cities passed from Kuomintang to Communist control with minimal resistance, through November. In most cases the surrounding countryside and small towns had come under Communist influence long before the cities. Finally, on 1 October 1949, Communists led by founded the . Chiang Kai-shek declared in May 1949, whilst a few hundred thousand Nationalist troops and two million refugees, predominantly from the government and business community, fled from mainland China to . There remained in China itself only isolated pockets of resistance. On 7 December 1949, Chiang proclaimed , Taiwan, the temporary capital of the . During the Chinese Civil War both the Nationalists and Communists carried out mass atrocities, with millions of non-combatants killed by both sides. Benjamin Valentino has estimated atrocities in the civil war resulted in the death of between 1.8 million and 3.5 million people between 1927 and 1949, including deaths from forced conscription and massacres. Government The first Republic of China national government was established on 1 January 1912, in , and was founded on the and its , which state that "ROC shall be a democratic republic of the people, to be governed by the people and for the people." Sun Yat-sen was the provisional president. Delegates from the provinces sent to confirm the government's authority formed the first parliament in 1913. The power of this government was limited, with generals controlling both the central and northern , and short-lived. The number of acts passed by the government was few and included the formal abdication of the Qing dynasty and some economic initiatives. The parliament's authority soon became nominal: violations of the Constitution by Yuan were met with half-hearted motions of censure. Kuomintang members of parliament who gave up their membership in the KMT were offered 1,000 . Yuan maintained power locally by sending generals to be provincial governors or by obtaining the allegiance of those already in power. When Yuan died, the parliament of 1913 was reconvened to give legitimacy to a new government. However, the real power passed to military leaders, leading to the warlord period. The impotent government still had its use; when began, several Western powers and Japan wanted China to declare war on Germany, in order to liquidate German holdings in China. In February 1928, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 2nd Kuomintang National Congress, held in Nanjing, passed the Reorganization of the Nationalist Government Act. This act stipulated that the Nationalist Government was to be directed and regulated under the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, with the Committee of the Nationalist Government being elected by the KMT Central Committee. Under the Nationalist Government were seven ministries – Interior, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Transport, Justice, Agriculture and Mines, and Commerce, in addition to institutions such as the , , and the General Academy. With the promulgation of the Organic Law of the Nationalist Government in October 1928, the government was reorganized into five different branches, or yuan, namely the , , , as well as the Control Yuan. The Chairman of the National Government was to be the head-of-state and commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army. Chiang Kai-shek was appointed as the first Chairman, a position he would retain until 1931. The Organic Law also stipulated that the Kuomintang, through its National Congress and Central Executive Committee, would exercise sovereign power during the period of "political tutelage", that the KMT's Political Council would guide and superintend the Nationalist Government in the execution of important national affairs, and that the Political Council has the power to interpret or amend the Organic Law. Shortly after the Second Sino-Japanese War, a long-delayed constitutional convention was summoned to meet in Nanking in May 1946. Amidst heated debate, this convention adopted many constitutional amendments demanded by several parties, including the KMT and the Communist Party, into the Constitution. This Constitution was promulgated on 25 December 1946 and came into effect on 25 December 1947. Under it, the Central Government was divided into the presidency and the five yuans, each responsible for a part of the government. None was responsible to the other except for certain obligations such as the president appointing the head of the Executive Yuan. Ultimately, the president and the yuans reported to the National Assembly, which represented the will of the citizens. Under the new constitution the first elections for the National Assembly occurred in January 1948, and the Assembly was summoned to meet in March 1948. It elected the President of the Republic on 21 March 1948, formally bringing an end to the KMT party rule started in 1928, although the President was a member of the KMT. These elections, though praised by at least one US observer, were poorly received by the Communist Party, which would soon start an open, armed insurrection. Foreign relations Before the Nationalist government was ousted from the mainland, the Republic of China had diplomatic relations with 59 countries, such as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , the , the , and . Most of these relations continued at least until the 1970s, and the Republic of China remained a member of the United Nations until 1971. Administrative divisions declared its independence |File:ROC Administrative Subdivisions zh-hant.svg|Map of provinces and equivalents of the Republic of China in law (1945) }} Military The military power of the Republic of China was inherited from the , mainly the Beiyang Army, which later split into many and . The National Revolutionary Army was established by in 1925 in with the goal of reunifying China under the Kuomintang. Originally organized with aid as a means for the KMT to unify China against warlordism, the National Revolutionary Army fought many major engagements: in the against Beiyang Army , in the against the , and in the against the . During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the armed forces of the were nominally incorporated into the National Revolutionary Army, while remaining under separate command, but broke away to form the People's Liberation Army shortly after the end of the war. With the promulgation of the in 1947 and the formal end of the KMT party-state, the National Revolutionary Army was renamed the , with the bulk of its forces forming the , which retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after their defeat in the Chinese Civil War. Units which surrendered and remained in mainland China were either disbanded or incorporated into the People's Liberation Army. Economy , Shanghai, 1920}} In the early years of the Republic of China, the economy remained unstable as the country was marked by constant warfare between different regional warlord factions. The Beiyang government in Beijing experienced constant changes in leadership, and this political instability led to stagnation in economic development until Chinese reunification in 1928 under the Kuomintang. After this reunification, China entered a period of relative stability—despite ongoing isolated military conflicts and in the face of Japanese aggression in and , in 1931—a period known as the "Nanjing Decade". Chinese industries grew considerably from 1928 to 1931. While the economy was hit by the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931 and the Great Depression from 1931 to 1935, industrial output recovered to their earlier peak by 1936. This is reflected by the trends in Chinese GDP. In 1932, China's GDP peaked at 28.8 billion, before falling to 21.3 billion by 1934 and recovering to 23.7 billion by 1935. By 1930, foreign investment in China totaled 3.5 billion, with Japan leading (1.4 billion) followed by the United Kingdom (1 billion). By 1948, however, the capital investment had halted and dropped to only 3 billion, with the US and Britain being the leading investors. However, the rural economy was hit hard by the Great Depression of the 1930s, in which an overproduction of agricultural goods lead to falling prices for China as well as an increase in foreign imports (as agricultural goods produced in western countries were "dumped" in China). In 1931, Chinese imports of rice amounted to 21 million s compared with 12 million in 1928. Other imports saw even more increases. In 1932, 15 million bushels of grain were imported compared with 900,000 in 1928. This increased competition lead to a massive decline in Chinese agricultural prices and thus the income of rural farmers. In 1932, agricultural prices were at 41 percent of 1921 levels. By 1934, rural incomes had fallen to 57 percent of 1931 levels in some areas. In 1937, Japan invaded China and the resulting warfare laid waste to China. Most of the prosperous east coast was occupied by the Japanese, who committed atrocities such as the . In one anti-guerilla sweep in 1942, the Japanese killed up to 200,000 civilians in a month. The war was estimated to have killed between 20 and 25 million Chinese, and destroyed all that Chiang had built up in the preceding decade. Development of industries was severely hampered after the war by devastating civil conflict as well as the inflow of cheap American goods. By 1946, Chinese industries operated at 20% capacity and had 25% of the output of pre-war China. One effect of the war with Japan was a massive increase in government control of industries. In 1936, government-owned industries were only 15% of GDP. However, the ROC government took control of many industries in order to fight the war. In 1938, the ROC established a commission for industries and mines to supervise and control firms, as well as instilling price controls. By 1942, 70% of Chinese industry was owned by the government. Following the war with Japan, Chiang acquired Taiwan from Japan and renewed his struggle with the communists. However, the corruption of the KMT, as well as hyperinflation as a result of trying to fight the civil war, resulted in mass unrest throughout the Republic and sympathy for the communists. In addition, the communists' promise to redistribute land gained them support among the large rural population. In 1949, the communists captured Beijing and later Nanjing. The People's Republic of China was proclaimed on 1 October 1949. The Republic of China relocated to Taiwan where Japan had laid an educational groundwork. Notes References Category:China